Homes for the homeless pop up at site of Vancouver tent city

What was a tent city for the homeless just a few months ago on Vancouver’s eastside is now a modular housing project where some of those campers and others will be housed.

The project is one of four the B.C. government and city of Vancouver have recently collaborated on in an effort to help get a growing homeless population off the streets.

Poverty Reduction Minister Shane Simpson says the key to success of the housing projects are the round-the-clock support services available to tenants, including access to mental health and addiction specialists, as well as skills training and meal programs.

The so-called Sugar Mountain tent city was shut down by the city over health and safety concerns in December 2017, and it took just nine weeks to put together the 39-unit modular building on the site.

Officials will soon open a second such complex just down the street from the Sugar Mountain site that will be for women only.

The buildings are part of the province’s affordable housing strategy which aims to create 600 modular homes in Vancouver and 1,400 more across B.C. over the next three years to house people living in extreme poverty.